Biking the Barns in the Champlain Valley
Champlain Valley’s many quiet, country roads are ideal for cycling, so it’s no surprise that the Adirondack North Country Association chose the region for a new annual event called Bike the Barns.
History & Culture
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Explorer Launches Adirondack Photo Contest
By Phil Brown
I’ve never met an unhappy dog in the woods. And one of the happiest in these parts is Ella, the canine companion of Susan Bibeau, the Explorer’s designer. We’re showing you Ella’s photo to goad you into sending us photos of your favorite mutt in the Adirondacks. This is the idea of Tracy Ormsbee, our…
Park Perspectives: A community rebuilds
This January morning in Wanakena couldn’t be more different from the day two years ago when a violent turn of nature broke the historic heart of a community. Today, a bracing wind moves over the dry, cold snow that covers the homes, walkways, and riverbed of this former mill town. The Oswegatchie River flashes in…
A mountain ministry
Publisher Tom Woodman interviews Rev. Philip Allen, pastor of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Indian Lake The Reverend Philip Allen is pastor of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Indian Lake as well as St. Paul’s in Blue Mountain Lake and St. Joseph’s in Olmstedville. He grew up on the family dairy farm in Peru, New…
Amazing Grace
Shortly after moving to the Adirondacks in 1996, I climbed Giant Mountain. Not only was it my first High Peak, it was the first time I’d climbed anything higher than the hill in the back yard where I grew up.
The law of the wild
Adopted fifty years ago, the Wilderness Act reflects the nation’s growing appreciation of unspoiled lands. By Philip Terrie On a warm September day in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed what is now recognized as one of the most significant legislative acts in American environmental history. This was the national Wilderness Act. Before then, federal lands,…
Adding up the Finch deal
Governor Andrew Cuomo has touted the $47 million land acquisition as a boon for the Park’s economy, but questions and challenges remain. By Brian Mann TWO YEARS AGO, when Governor Andrew Cuomo revived the massive Finch, Pruyn land deal, first engineered by the Adirondack Nature Conservancy in 2007, he shifted the terms of a long-running…
Trains carry oil and risk
Hundreds of tankers regularly roll past Lake Champlain, raising fears about an environmental or community disaster. By David Sommerstein ON A SUMMER night last July, the charming French-Canadian town of Lac Megantic literally exploded. A tanker train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire, incinerating much of the downtown and killing forty-seven people.…
Have a brewski in honor of Ron Kon
By Phil Brown
Adirondack Brewery in Lake George has come up with a clever marketing campaign that features regional athletes and outdoor enthusiasts on its packages. The one shown here recognizes Ron Konowitz, the only person known to have skied all forty-six of the High Peaks. Ron, who lives in Keene, is president of the Adirondack Powder Skier…
A trainload of questions
By Brian Mann For more than twenty years, the Adirondack Scenic Railroad has struggled to create an excursion train from Utica to Lake Placid, an attraction that advocates hope will one day serve as a major draw for tourists, carrying passengers through some of the most rugged and scenic terrain in the East. “We view an…